Access Holdings Aim for Africa’s Top 5 Financial Service Providers By 2027

…Records Over 58 Million Customers in 2022

Access Holdings Plc has restated its determination to be one of the top five financial services organisations in Africa by 2027.

Specifically, the group said the overall business outlook for 2023 remains strong as “we begin our new five-year strategic journey which aims to make us one of the top five financial services organisations in Africa by 2027.”

Already, Access Bank, the commercial banking unit of Access Holdings Plc, received $300 million as capital investment from the parent company to further its expansion within Africa.

Access Holdings Plc announced its full year 2022 financial results which showed strong growth across revenue lines, despite the strong macroeconomic headwinds locally and internationally.

The group registered a record revenue of N1.4 trillion a 43 percent year-on-year (y/y) growth (FY ‘21: N971.9 billion) as it began to see the dividends of organic and inorganic activities across the ecosystem.

Further breakdown of the result showed that Access Holdings Plc recorded a Profit Before Tax of N167.7 billion, five percent y/y decline (FY ‘21: N176.6 billion) following huge write downs from the Ghana sovereign debt crisis.

Further breakdown showed that overall, interest income grew by 37 percent y/y to N827 billion, driven by a strong loan book growth despite the high inflationary environment. Net loans and advances to customers grew by 25 percent across the banking group, with a deliberate focus on credit disbursement to critical segments and growth sectors of the economy.

Also Read: Access Bank Disburses N40.5bn Loans to Women Entrepreneurs in 2022, Earmarks N100bn

The group also saw good growth across the subsidiaries, the UK in particular (up 36 percent to N1.1 trillion in 2022).

Access Holdings Plc ended the year with over 58 million customers across the extensive network of subsidiaries and business verticals. The company’s asset base grew to N15.0 trillion and customer deposits to N9.25 trillion, with Current Account and Savings Account (CASA) mix up by five percent, to 63 percent as a result of leveraging innovation, digital technology and financial inclusion to mobilise sustainable low-cost deposits.

It should be recalled that in the second half of 2022, Access Holdings Plc completed the divestment from Pensions Custodian business and acquired significant shareholding in First Guarantee Pensions Ltd & Sigma Pensions Ltd to form Access Pensions Ltd.

This combination resulted in the creation of the fourth largest PFA in Nigeria, with Asset under Management of N0.9 trillion, putting the group clearly in the league of strategic players in the pensions industry.

“Our payment business went live with the switching business in Q3 2022, while the other areas of the business will become fully operational from Q2 2023,” it noted in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Access Bank $300 million capital investment takes the form of a Tier 1 capital qualifying mandatory convertible instrument and is expected to improve the bank’s shareholders’ funds and total ratios, Access Holdings said in a statement.

Also Read: How Access Bank Takes the Charge in Driving Sustainability in Nigeria’s Financial Sector

The Central Bank of Nigeria has endorsed the investment, it added.

Access Holdings is expanding into new markets on the continent and branching out into new businesses permitted by its holding company licence in pursuit of its strategy to be “Africa’s gateway to the world.”

The group is nursing the hope that its newly launched payments subsidiary, Hydrogen, will be able to settle one out of every three transactions that come into the continent in the nearest future.

“As a leading financial institution in the continent, we remain foresighted in our approach to our growth and capitalisation needs,” CEO Herbert Wigwe said.